When he sets out to rebuke contemporary manners and mores, a cautious author may resort to subterfuge, attributing the objects of his censure to distant times and places, real or imagined. Thus did Swift in Gulliver’s Travels, Shakespeare in his tragedies, Tolkien and C.S. Lewis in their fantasies. In our own day, we see the technique employed — often transparently and with overt ideological content — in certain science- fiction chronicles, such as the Star Trek series. Even when clumsily employed, the technique remains effective, for the natural human tendency to respond hostilely to criticism is generally averted when that criticism appears to be directed at another. The unwitting target of correction may even endorse the complaint, confident that it does not apply to him. All of which reminds me of a story. . . . — F.R. Duplantier, July 15, 2001
When the terrorist attack occurred two months after I published the commentary linked above, it seemed instantly to invigorate Americans with a renewed appreciation for the blessings of liberty and to fortify the self-assurance necessary to sustain them. But it quickly dissipated and we soon faced again the sad, steady deterioration of a culture whose people have lost faith in it.